This week started out looking kind of bleak, and then at the last minute there were several excellent additions to the events calendar. I’ve recommended what I see as the best below, but you can look at the full calendar to see what else is scheduled this week and into March.

We’re back from the 4th of July holiday in the US, which pretty much shut everything down for a full week. And while there are only 4 events on the calendar for this week, I added 11 events for the month on Friday. The week of July 22-26 is shaping up to be a busy one.

After last week’s craziness, we’re returning to a normal summer rate of procurement and supply chain webinars. As an FYI, I don’t currently have any events listed for the week after, most likely because of the July 4th holiday in the US. Assuming that doesn’t change (especially at the last minute), there won’t be any webinar recommendations on July 1st, bit I’ll pick right back up with them the week after.

If you look at the April events calendar, we have a funny dynamic shaping up this month. Nearly all of the webinars are on Thursdays! In fact, there is even one more event I’ll be adding to an April Thursday shortly. If you happen to be an event host or organizer, how about showing Tuesdays and Wednesdays a little love? You’ll have less competition, that’s for sure!

If you are planning your webinar schedule beyond this week, I recommend ‘Your Contracts Are A Goldmine’ from IACCM and ContractPodAi on April 9th at 11am ET.

Welcome back – and happy new year! We are officially kicking off 2019 with this week’s webinar recommendations. If you are looking for a longer term recommendation, check out ‘Hey Nineteen: Procurement’s Playbook for 2019’ from SIG and Zycus on January 29th at 1pm ET. It will feature the findings from The Hackett Group’s 2019 “Procurement Key Issues” survey, including key topics such as the acceleration of digital transformation in procurement and a look at the ongoing strategic initiatives and technology adoption trends that support it.

While we don’t have as many events to choose from this week as we did last week, the topics are fantastic. In fact, neither of the webinars I’m recommending is a straight on procurement-directed event. Taking in information on leading general business topics not only helps us come up with progressive ideas, it also keeps our eyes focused on the big picture of enterprise performance.

This week presented me with a challenge on two levels – it was hard to select just three of the nine fantastic webinars taking place in the next few days, but it was just as difficult to decide which longer term event to suggest. At the end of the day, I compromised on a tie; both of the following events look amazing:

I thought this week might be so quiet that there wouldn’t be any webinars to recommend… Wrong-O! Monday will be a ghost town in most of the U.S. because of the Labor Day holiday, but things pick right back up for the rest of the week. Next week is already busy too, with 8 webinars and one conference already on the calendar.

If you’re planning a little further out, I invite you to spend an hour of time with Phil Ideson (Art of Procurement) and I on September 11th or 12th. We’ve scheduled 3 live, virtual workshops that cover every conceivable time zone, so you really have no excuse not to be at one! By the end of the hour, you’ll have completed your own unique procurement catalyst plan for action – so have a pen and paper handy! Click here for more information.

After a clear events calendar last week, we’re back – and with five events to choose from! I’ve also started adding some great events for September, including AI and manufacturing, next generation operating models, and community intelligence. Take a look and get something in your schedule to start the fall off right.

This week, the annual ISM conference is taking place in Nashville, TN. But if you’re not traveling, not to worry – there are lots of virtual events you can easily slot into your calendar. And of course, I hope you are able to join me – and my friends from Supply Chain Now Radio, Talent Stream, and APICS Atlanta on Tuesday at 12pm ET for “Managing Your Metrics.”

If you like to plan further ahead, I recommend Supply Chain Insights’ 2018 Supply Chains to Admire webinar, being held on June 20th. Click on the title of each recommended webinar below to view the full description and register.

This is a busy week on the calendar, with 13 webinars taking place. And if you were hoping to make it to an event in the near term, this is the week to do it – next week is back to almost nothing: famine after the feast.

Another busy week on the Buyers Meeting Point events calendar. As an FYI: I will be recommending events this week and next and then breaking until the events pick back up again the week of January 8. In addition to this week’s webinars, Market Dojo is hosting an eAuction Strategy Masterclass at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Click on the title of each recommended webinar below to view the full description and register.

After a one-week hiatus (presumably due to the Labor Day holiday in the U.S.), procurement events are back – with a vengeance! With Procurement Leaders in Boston on Wednesday and Thursday and 10 webinars, there is a lot of choose from. Click on the title of each webinar below to view the full description and register.

“In the new global era, speed and velocity are more important than everything else!” (p. 12)

The LIVING Supply Chain: The Evolving Imperative of Operating in Real Time by Rob Handfield and Tom Linton (Wiley, 2017) takes everything you know about ecosystems and Darwinian principles and applies it to supply chain management.

One of the most telling sections in the book is in the Preface where Handfield shares three major shifts affecting the digital economy (paraphrased here by me):

Data is a natural resource (think raw material)

Converting data into decisions is the key refinement process of the digital era

Cognitive computing (human/machine interaction) will be a critical ‘relationship’

To me, these points are significant because they are NOT followed by something along the lines of “… and here is what all this means for supply chain.” Like the authors, we need to stop thinking of the supply chain as somehow separate or downstream from economic/digital trends. The supply chain is a fully integrated piece of the ecosystem – or should be – and must be managed as such. Every time we feel compelled to translate trends, priorities, forces into a supply chain-centric version, we obscure their meaning and slow the movement of information.

This week’s webinars don’t necessarily cover new or out of the ordinary topics, but they do bring us some new voices. See Tuesday’s event to hear from David Atkinson (Four Pillars) and Thursday’s to hear from Linda Chuan (Salesforce). Click on the title of each webinar below to view the full description and register.

After a two-week hiatus (because there have been very few events) our recommendations return this week with three great webinars. Click on the title of each webinar below to view the full description and register.

This week includes one of the best slates of webinars I have seen go by in a long time. Of the 10 events taking place, HALF of them deserve recommendations. Maybe this is the last ‘big hurrah’ before the official start to summer next weekend? Click on the title of each webinar below to view the full description and register.